Simulating the changes in carbon structure during the burn-off process

Using a simple energetic criterion, we modelled the process of activation of ‘soft’ activated carbons. Eighteen carbon samples, differing in degree of graphitisation, and obtained using Molecular Dynamics annealing of an amorphous carbon precursor were studied. For all samples, the geometric pore si...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Furmaniak, S., Terzyk, A., Gauden, P., Marks, Nigel, Powles, R., Kowalczyk, Piotr
Format: Journal Article
Published: Elsevier 2011
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/10039
Description
Summary:Using a simple energetic criterion, we modelled the process of activation of ‘soft’ activated carbons. Eighteen carbon samples, differing in degree of graphitisation, and obtained using Molecular Dynamics annealing of an amorphous carbon precursor were studied. For all samples, the geometric pore size distribution was calculated using the method proposed by Bhattacharya and Gubbins. Adsorption isotherms for Ar at 87 K were simulated and analysed using different approaches widely applied in adsorption science (α s, DA, APD, ND, BET). It is shown that our approach leads to similar changes in microporosity (with the rise in carbon burn-off) to those observed in real experiments. Moreover, the conclusions about the reality of popular methods of carbon porosity characterisation are given.